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KLRU and the Austin Public Library present Community Cinema. The free public screenings take place at the Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) from 7 pm to 9 pm.

On October 1st, watch a preview and discuss The Graduates/Los Graduados. This bilingual documentary explores pressing issues in education today through the eyes of six Latino and Latina adolescents from across the United States, offering first-hand perspectives on the barriers they have to overcome in order to make their dreams come true.

Dr. Pauline Dow, Chief Academic Officer Austin Independent School District, will discuss local educational issues. The presentation will also feature the short film Skipping Up with filmmaker Jim Mendiola in attendance. Set primarily in Mark Twain Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, Skipping Up follows a group of eighth graders as they finish their year in the Middle School Partners Program, a new and highly successful dropout-prevention project that helps students who were previously behind catch up quickly.

Dr. Pauline Dow currently serves as Chief Academic Officer for the Austin Independent School District, an urban school district of 85,000 PreK-12 students in over 120 schools and learning sites, providing overall instructional leadership for curriculum and instruction, bilingual education, and special education to promote attainment of the District’s vision. Prior to this, she served as Associate Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer for the Ysleta Independent School District, a district with 62 schools serving more than 44,000 students. She has focused on establishing meaningful standards of excellence, strengthening school-community partnerships, and a culture of collaboration at all levels. Dr. Dow’s research focuses on the achievement of students in dual language education programs and the policy implications of bilingual schooling. Her most recent publication includes a book chapter published on June 13, 2012 by Springer: “Education Policies: Standardized Testing, English Language Learners and Border Futures” in Social Justice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region. She is a founding member of the Institute for Language and Education Policy.

Jim Mendiola is an independent filmmaker, curator, and writer based in Texas. A Rockefeller Intercultural Media Fellow, Mendiola’s films have screened in numerous film festivals, museums, and colleges in the U.S., Mexico and Europe, public television and cable TV. His projects have been supported by the Independent Film Service, Film Independent, National Association of Independent Latino Producer, Latino Public Broadcasting, Mun2, SiTV, and the Sundance Filmmakers Lab. As a curator, Mendiola created the film program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, programmed for San Francisco’s Cine Accion Film Festival, and is currently directing San Antonio CineFestival, the nation’s longest running Latino Film Festival. He is an artist-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin where he is writing a book and creating a digital archive on the history of U.S. Chicano/Latino independent filmmaking.

Community Cinema is a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring screenings of films from Independent Lens on location in 100 cities and online. Between September and June, Community Cinema brings together leading organizations, community members and public television stations to learn, discuss and get involved in today’s critical social issues.

Independent Television Service and KLRU announce this year’s Community Cinema films. For the 2013-14 season screenings will be held in Austin at the Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.). All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Community Cinema is a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring screenings of films from Independent Lens on location in 100 cities and online. Between September and June, Community Cinema brings together leading organizations, community members and public television stations to learn, discuss and get involved in today’s critical social issues. This year’s Community Cinema will feature both public screenings and online screenings. Online screenings are still TBD.

THE GRADUATES/LOS GRADUADOSOctober 1
Pressing issues in education today are explored through the eyes of a diverse array of Latino and Latina adolescents from across the United States in this eye-opening documentary on the challenges facing both the students and their families. The Girls Hour of this two-hour series is part of the Women and Girls Lead campaign.

THE STATE OF ARIZONADecember 3
The divisive battle over illegal immigration in Arizona that came to a head with Senate Bill 1070 frames this tense documentary that tracks multiple perspectives – activists, politicians, Latino immigrants, controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, ranchers, and others – as America eyes the results.

LAS MARTHASFebruary 4
In the lingering aftermath of the U.S.-Mexican War, the border town of Laredo, Texas created an annual debutante ball unlike any other. Las Marthas follows two Mexican American girls carrying this gilded tradition on their shoulders during a time of economic uncertainty and tension over immigration.

THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALIMarch 4
The Trials of Muhammad Ali covers the famed boxer’s toughest bout of all: his battle to overturn the five-year prison sentence he received for refusing U.S. military service. The film explores Ali’s exile years when he was banned from boxing and found himself in the crosshairs of conflicts concerning race, religion, and wartime dissent.

MEDORAApril 1
Medora, Indiana is a once-booming community beset by a crippled economy and a dwindling population. This documentary follows the town’s down-but-not-out varsity basketball team over a season, capturing the players’ stories on and off the court – as the team’s struggle to compete parallels the town’s fight for survival.

THE NEW BLACKMay 6
Centering on the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland, The New Black takes viewers into the pews, the streets, and kitchen tables as it looks at how the African American community grapples with the divisive gay rights issue. Part of the Women and Girls Lead campaign.

The May 2013 Community Cinema film is Revolutionary Optimist with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place May 7 at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and May 30 at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

THE REVOLUTIONARY OPTIMISTS by Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham
In the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta, a lawyer turned social entrepreneur is empowering young girls and boys to take an active role in transforming their own lives. Through arts programs and hands-on activities like mapping their communities, these young girls and boys have brought clean drinking water to and improved sanitation in their slums.

The April 2013 Community Cinema film is Island President with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place April 2 at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and April 25 at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

THE ISLAND PRESIDENT by Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen, and Richard Berge
After bringing democracy to his country, President Mohaned Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, takes up the fight to keep his homeland from disappearing under the sea.

The March 2013 Community Cinema film is Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place March 5 at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and March 28 at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
Guevara-Flanagan From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s, to the blockbusters of today, WONDER WOMEN! Looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation.

The February 2013 Community Cinema film is The Powerbroker with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place February 5 at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and February 14 at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

The Powerbroker
During the 1950s and 60s, civil rights leader Whitney Young navigated a divided society. He challenged America’s white business and political leaders directly, but his efforts to open the doors for equal opportunity were often attacked by Black Americans who felt his methods were in contrast with the Black Power Movement of the time.

The January 2013 Community Cinema film is Soul Food Junkies with screenings and discussions in both Austin and Round Rock. All screenings will start at 7 pm, are free and open to the public.

Screenings take place January 15th at Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.) and January 31st at Round Rock Public Library (216 E. Main Street).

Soul Food Junkies
This film delves into the historical and controversial relationship between the African American community and soul food. How does our affinity for soul food and its dietary traditions affect the health of the African American community?

Explore the artistic world of Wayne White at this month’s Community Cinema screening at 7 pm on December 4 Austin’s Windsor Park Branch Library (5833 Westminster Dr.).

BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING by Neil Berkeley
Artist Wayne White found early success as one of the creators of Pee-wee’s Playhouse and now his “word” paintings, which feature pithy and often sarcastic text statements crafted onto vintage landscape paintings, have made him a darling of the fine art world. This is a funny, irreverent story of the highs and lows of a commercial artist struggling to find peace and balance between his work and his art.

Learn how a group of women in impoverished areas throughout the world are changing their community by becoming solar-energy engineers at the November Community Cinema screenings November 6 in Austin and November 29 in Round Rock.

SOLAR MAMAS by Jehane Noujaim
Rafea, who lives in a small Jordanian village, is 30 years old with four children and a husband eager to take a third wife. With the encouragement from her country’s Ministry of Environment, she attends the Barefoot College in India to train to become a solar-energy engineer. The Barefoot College provides training to the rural poor to empower them to make their communities sustainable. Students include rural women from Kenya, Burkina Faso, Columbia, and Guatemala.